


Nothign Is Ever Easy

by Synchro_Lies



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alpha Daryl, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Awkwardness, Bottom Rick, Community: twd_kinkmeme, Kink Meme, M/M, Mpreg, Omega Rick, Rickyl, Top Daryl, mpreg rick, versatile later on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2015-11-05
Packaged: 2018-04-30 05:43:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5152481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synchro_Lies/pseuds/Synchro_Lies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rick wakes up from a coma to find the world gone to shit. Somehow he manages to find his family, but things are stranded between himself and his mate. Lori’s too wrapped up in Shane and when he finds them out in the woods having sex it’s over for them. There is also that redneck alpha that smells like heaven. </p>
<p>Rick didn’t expect to break his bond with Lori, nor how easy it was to fall in love with Daryl. Nor did he expect that Lori would wound up expecting, not knowing who was the father and at the same time he was expecting too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothign Is Ever Easy

**Author's Note:**

> So I was browsing through the kink meme when I found this prompt ( http://twd-kinkmeme.livejournal.com/5396.html?thread=8146196#t8146196 ).  
> So I thought to myself, cool, I want to do it. My brain went to work and uh… what was meant to be a short multi-chapter story became a little bigger than expected. 
> 
> I have a plan this time around; things will get done and posted. I also would like to apologize for the length. I have no Beta or a proofreader. If there are any mistakes, I’m sorry, they are all mine; I would be very happy if anyone offers to help.

Dawn couldn’t come fast enough for Rick. He went up ahead, off somewhere away from what was left of their group, walkie-talkie in hand. Crouching down at eye level with the grass he began to talk, hoping that Morgan was listening, that he had heard his warning not go to Atlanta, and that it was dangerous. Whether he did or didn’t Rick didn’t know, regardless he had a family to take care of and a group to watch over.

Last night had been hell, walkers snuck inside the camp; eating whatever flesh was available they could get their gnarly hands on. At least Lori, Carl and even Shane were alright and that’s all he could really ask for. The memories of that night are still clear in his mind. Arriving and thinking the worst... Where they too late? Had Shane be right all along and they should have stayed; forget Merle and the guns. All he could do was aim at a walker, shot and scream for his family. Despite the havoc in front of his eyes and the turbulence in his heart he could still feel them through the bond. Just because he could feel them didn’t mean they were okay, so close he could feel their fear. Rick reached and reached until he had them in his arms. He didn’t want to go through this again. He needed his family safe, for this hell to be over. A thought had crossed his mind, Morgan… he had mentioned the CDC… Maybe they could get answers.

He just needed to convince the rest of the group. 

It hadn’t been easy, he and Shane argued about it, he wanted to go to Fort Benning and Rick could see his reasoning behind that but the CDC was a safer bet. It was closer, could potentially have the cure for this, whatever this was and then there was Jim. He had been bitten amongst all the chaos and he needed help. He wasn’t dead like Amy; he was still living and breathing. There was still a chance; maybe the CDC could save Jim. 

In the end Shane reluctantly agreed to go to the CDC and Rick couldn’t shake off the weird vibe the alpha was giving him, or the strange looks being exchanged between him and Lori. Oh yeah, when he had first arrived at the camp, seeing Lori and Carl, embracing them, he had caught a strange whiff from Lori. She smelt like Shane. It was something he didn’t want to dwell on, but the more time passed by he couldn’t ignore it. Something happened while he had been gone between those two, something that apparently was over, whatever it was. He didn’t have time to think about it, they had to go; For Jim’s sake, for hope.

It didn’t matter in the end, his efforts to keep Jim alive. The sickness was spreading too fast and Jim, poor Jim; he seemed as if he wanted the sickness to take him. He had been hallucinating ever since they hit the road. And now, this was his most lucid moment since being bitten. This was his choice, nothing he or anyone else could do about it. He wanted to be left on the road, left to turn, to rot and be with his dead family. In a way he understood that, didn’t mean he had to accept it, but what choice did he had? None, it was Jim’s. 

Leaving him had been hard, but they had to go, move forward. The CDC was waiting for them, as long as they kept moving forward, no stopping they could reach it by nighttime at the earliest. Expect the RV started to sputter again, their caravan needing to stop once again. 

“Can this thing be fixed anytime soon?” It was Shane exasperated tone. He was tired and so was everyone. “I thought we fixed it when we-…” Rick hesitates, head turns to the side where Shane stands, both hands on his hips staring at him and Dale with pursued lips. “…when we left Jim on the road….” He finishes softly. “I know son but this dammed thing! I can give it a quick fix it again but it’s going to break anyway. If you want this thing to last the entire ride without any more hiccups we can either find a new radiator hose or we camp and I work on this thing all night long… It’s getting late anyhow, people are tired and this thing needs fixing.”

Shane’s immediate response is to step forward and close in onto Dale’s personal space. Drawling out each word slowly and firmly, he tilts his head forward. “Absolutely not! You’ll fix it quick, we gonna go on ahead and it ain’t gonna break no more. You get it?” 

“It’s going to break again.” Dale stands firmly on the ground, staring right back at Shane’s petulant eyes. There is tension in the air, an unspoken moment of contempt. Rick sees it but can’t put to words what he is seeing, something clearly happened between the two of them for Shane to be so openly threatening to the older omega. It’s been weeks since any of them had taken suppressants and/or inhibitors, thus making their nature more noticeable. Shane’s using his alpha pheromones on Dale without knowing it but they aren’t affecting him. Rick notices and worries, it was time for him to step in before something bad happened.

“Both of you stop, now. Listen up, we ain’t going nowhere without that RV. As Dale said everyone is tired and hungry. We barely ate anything.” Shane’s mouth open up to say something, but Rick shushes him with a look. The other man purses his lips, curls his hand into a fist and looks elsewhere to direct his anger, not at Dale, he tried but the old man kept his ground and Rick had gotten in the way. As much as he wanted to go at it again he feared the older omega would give away his secret. No, he had to hold back and so he did.

“You and Glenn gonna head out, see if you can find anything to fix the RV and maybe some supplies.” At that Shane rolls his eyes, nose flaring up slightly. “I’m not babysitting an overgrown kid.” He didn’t give a shit, ever since Rick came back he had been ordering him around and it was pissing him off. He could only take so many orders at the time. 

“I’ll go.” T-Dog didn’t hesitate to offer out his help. He could see the tension brewing in the air and was going to do whatever was necessary to diffuse it. If by that meant tagging along with Glenn he was fine by it. He liked him just fine and it would do him good to stay away from the younger Dixon’s harsh stare. 

“Alright.” Rick grimaces, it can’t be helped. Shane is being a bigger dick than usual. “If a few hours pass and you can’t find anything, you get back. No lingering around, go it?” Glenn nodded. “I would be faster if I went alone.”

“No one goes alone anywhere.” Shane helpfully chimed in. “I’m just not going.” He added for second measure and so no one would get any funny ideas. 

“He is right; we can’t go off on our own.” Rick had to agree. Alone out there was suicide. “Fine, but just me and T-Dog, no more. Last time I brought a group… well you know what happened.” Yeah, Rick knew and wasn’t going to pester the Beta about allowing more people to go with him. The camp needed protection.

“While china man goes out runnin’ I can go huntin’.” Daryl’s voice catches his attention away from Glenn. It doesn’t’ sound like a bad idea, he was about to suggest something like that, the group needed food and Daryl was a good hunter or so he kept hearing. “I’m coming with and don’t give me that look.” The younger Dixon frowns, not looking too pleased about it. “Look, we go together. You focus on huntin’ and I’ll watch out for walkers. Make sure none of ‘em gets us or the game. It’ll be faster that way, maybe feed the group for the night.”

Daryl couldn’t quite trust the other man so easily, not even after he proved himself going with him to look for Merle. He didn’t feel sorry for what happened back at camp, he called it karma. But those baby blues eyes were pleading him and if anything the one thing for sure Daryl knew about the man that regardless of being an omega he was fairly good leader. Merle tended to talk crap about many things, omega included and Daryl was inclined to say ‘fuck you’ to his brother out of spite for leaving him with a bunch of useless people. “Fine but keep quite.”

“Do you have to go?” It was Lori who spoke, Carl clung to her side. “We need food.” Rick approaches them, cups Lori’s face and brings it close. “Nothin’ to worry about it.” 

“We’ll be back soon.” He kisses her forehead, inhales deeply and scents her. She smell like flowers and something bitter but sweet. A little smile curls around her lips as he turns to say goodbye to his son, ruffling his hair playfully. “Now you watch over mom, big man.” The boy giggled before wrapping both arms around his father. 

“Be careful out there, the four of you.” Dale says from somewhere. 

~~

Rick had never gone hunting in his life; it was something he didn’t care for honestly. There were other things he had to do before even considering the possibility. He remembers some of his coworkers mention going out hunting from time to time, heck even Shane took part of it. But not Rick, he had a family to take care of, bills to pay and lately a marriage to fix. The end of the world seemed to be fixing things on that end, or at least beginning to, him and Lori still had things to work through. And now he was out there in the woods, with a strange alpha he didn’t know well enough but smelled so good, despite his rough and dirty appearance. 

It was quite the sight, watching him move so gracefully through the thick of the woods, barely making a sound as they moved through the foliage following the tracks left by the wild animals. Dark blue eyes would dart around taking in everything, every single details of their surroundings. 

Crouching down the hunter raises an arm, makes a signal for Rick to approach. “A deer...” It’s all he says, a rough calloused hand touching the dirt bellow, scattering a few leaves. “…was here not long ago. Might be able to catch it for tonight with some luck; not many walkers around, just a few set of prints.”

“Think they might get out deer?” Rick asks, crouching next to the hunter as if to examine his findings, though he is never tracked or hunted in his life. He wouldn’t mind learning; it was sort of a necessity nowadays. “Better not; don’t wanna ‘nother deer eaten by them walkers.”

“Yeah, you and me both…. Sorry ‘bout Merle.” Talking about deer made him think of Merle. Obnoxious alpha asshole who by accident, bad luck or just fate ended up one hand less and out there surviving and in said process leaving behind his not so precious younger brother. “Merle’s stupid, shoulda stayed put and waited for me to get his ass back to camp. Ain’t nothing we can do ‘bout him now.” 

“You gonna go after him?” It was a question that lingered on Rick’s mind ever since they found their missing truck, possibly stolen by Merle. Daryl doesn’t say anything at first just stands up and dusts himself. “Don’t know, he left me with all your dumb asses and I ain’t feeling so charitable with him right now. Might stay with your group for a while, nothing better to do and better than being out there alone.” 

“For what it’s worth, I think you are a much better man than your brother. You came back for him but he didn’t stay put.” Rick stands up, dusts himself and offers the hunter a small smile. 

Daryl glanced down at the ground, then back up to Rick and his little smile. It’s sweet, he thinks before answering. “Thanks… for not being too much of an asshole and coming with me to search for him.” 

~~

Lori hates watching Rick go, always had. Every morning they would get up together at the crack of dawn, she would go make breakfast, a real bad case of pancakes while Rick showered and shaved. Once she was done cooking she would wake Carl up. By then Rick was would be done and they would eat together like a family. They wouldn’t talk, just silently stare at each other as they ate the pancakes and Lori wishes Rick would say something, criticize her pancakes but he doesn’t. He just says they are good and Carl agrees, they talk about school and then they are dressing up and she is waiting for them at the door ready to say goodbye. Rick would take Carl to school, and then head out to work.   
It was their daily morning routine and she hated it. From some time now it felt dull, it lacked something and that had just been the beginning of their deteriorating marriage. It had started with dull mornings and Lori hating them, wanting change. She tried, but it just wasn’t working and Rick… as days passed they grew silent, barely talking to each other. It was frustrating but it was always something, they were a typical working family, Rick was the breadwinner, going out to work until late while she stayed home like the dutiful wife she was. They used to talk to each other, and Lori didn’t know what happened. When did they grow so distant? 

Another typical dull morning, Rick was about to head out when their first argument of many happened. “Why do you keep eating my god-awful pancakes?” It takes him by surprise, and he doesn’t answer right away. “They are not that bad, I like your pancakes Lori.” Liar, she wants to scream at him. He’s lying, she knows thanks to the bond and he knows it and in that moment she wonders if Rick has been lying to her often and she realties that yes, he is only because he doesn’t want to hurt her. “You hate them, always have and I don’t know why I keep making them.” She doesn’t kiss him goodbye but makes sure Carl gets a hug before they leave.

That night she asks Rick how he feels about her. He says he loves her and its truth but there is more to it and they argue and from then onwards it’s hell. 

Before the world went to shit she had been thinking about dissolving their bond, divorcing and go their separate ways. She can’t take their distancing from each other anymore; it’s putting a stretch in their bond. For a while now she hasn’t been able to feel Rick through their bond like she used to back when they had just bonded. So when Shane knocks the door to their house and tells her the news that Rick’s been shot it takes her by surprise. She hadn’t felt it, Rick’s hurt and it pains her. This is it, when he wakes up from the comma either they work on fixing their relationship or it’s the end of them. 

But the dead start walking and she believes him for dead. Shane tells her Rick is as good as dead and she can’t feel it through the bond, neither can Carl. It hurts so bad that it had to come to an end like this, but she moves on fast, too fast she thinks when Shane makes a move on her and she responds kindly. It shocks her how much she wants Shane, how different from Rick he is and she just jumps, lets Shane kiss her roughly on the lips, tell her that he wants her and it feels so good. Without noticing she is falling and falling for him.

When Rick comes back, she feels it first through their bond. It’s been a long time since she has felt him this strong, she feels him reach and it’s a weird sensation, like a missing puzzle piece has been found. Looking up, her eyes widen and Carl is running towards his father and she follows, exchanging looks with Shane. 

It’s over, she and Shane. Rick is back, she needs to fix their relationship, go back to being his dutiful wife, no matter how much it hurts to be apart from Shane.

She thought they were over, but with Rick out with Daryl Dixon hunting, he approaches her, grabs her by the arm and pulls her close. “Lori.” He says and means that he misses her. She misses him too, but it can’t be. 

“You told me he was dead, you lied to me.” It’s her excuse to distance herself from him, but it isn’t a lie either. She trusted him and he had lied, hadn’t told her the truth. “I didn’t, you know I didn’t.” He protests and she pulls away from him, she can’t stand his touch, not when it hurt likes it does. “Shouldn’t you have known? Felt him through the bond? You told me you couldn’t feel him anymore!” 

Whipping around Lori glares at Shane. “You… I told you that I couldn’t feel him properly through the bond since before this hell started, you bastard!“ Tears start to well up in her eyes. The alpha hesitates before coming closer to her, cups her face with one hand and caressed a thumb under her right eye sweeping her tears away. “I thought him dead, when I-“He stops talking and stutters, searching for the right words to express what he means, it takes him a couple of seconds. “When I got to the hospital he was still in a comma, I tried Lori, I really did but I couldn’t take him. The army was there, killing everyone and walkers… He was good as dead so I locked him and did what I thought he would have wanted me to do, to get you and Carl out and somewhere safe.” 

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry.” She murmurs once more drawn to Shane’s arms. “I never thought that… we… you… that I would feel how I feel about you, it just happened, Lori. Never meant to, Rick’s my best friend… Fuck… I need you, never felt this way for someone. Just one more time let me hold you baby, just once more let me feel you so close.” Lori wanted to struggle away, keep her composure and be loyal to Rick but Shane’s arms were strong around her, and her own feelings for both men were tangled. Rick is her husband who she is trying to connect and Shane is the man that after so long made her feel alive. And in this world filled with the dead she wants to feel alive and once more she falls. 

~~

Daryl’s been tracking the deer for a while now, while Rick follows straying away a few times to kill a roaming walker, here are not many, just a few here and there scattered around. The hunter did mention seeing a couple tracks belonging to walkers, so it’s not really surprising, though Rick worries. Hopefully the ones he killed are the only ones around and that they are not busy eating their deer. 

Daryl stops, makes a hand gesture for him to see something up ahead. Rick steps closer quietly and sees what the other man sees. “Is that the-“ A hand suddenly covers his mouth shutting him up effectively. “Shh.” The scent of pure unaltered alpha pheromones hits him like a truck.

Rick remembers when he first meets Daryl, all rough and dirty looking with a disposition of not giving a shit about anything. Despite his looks Rick found himself drawn to his particular scent; dirt, cigarettes and gasoline mixed together with alpha pheromones. It was addicting in a way that made him purr in pleasure. But then again those were possibly his omega instincts reacting to the alpha’s scent and said scent was strong.

Both Dixons had that kind of strong alpha scent, it just threatened to take over you in an instant if you weren’t prepared. Merle’s scent had been pungent, guns and something sterile like and when Rick had gone through his pockets he found what; drugs. On the other hand Daryl was much pleasant, pure and untouched by anything. Possibly both brothers never taken a suppressants or inhibitors in their lives or maybe he was just stereotyping them into the typical redneck norm. 

As much as Rick wanted to drown in that particular good scent he knew not to. One he had a loving mate who smelled just as brilliant and two they were supposed to be hunting a deer. 

Said deer stood a few feet away, head down sniffing the grass and chewing on it. It looked really good and delicious, meaty enough to feed the entire group and fill their bellies. So he understood why Daryl had to shut him up so that the deer wouldn’t startle. Though Rick felt he was the one that was going to startle any second with the hand hovering over his mouth. Its scent kept drifting to his nostrils and he couldn’t help but inhale some of it. He really should be focusing, but the smell… 

He had a mate; he shouldn’t be allowing himself to get lost on someone else’s smell even when said relationship was going through some rough patches. Dammit, it wasn’t entirely his fault the other man smelled so good and that he felt sod detached from Lori. Regardless he had a duty as a husband, mate and a father and he wasn’t about to let Daryl’s scent stray him from those duties. 

Rick was grateful when Daryl removed his hand and very slowly changed his posture, raising his crossbow just enough to aim at the animal. The look of pure of consecration on his face was sexy as heel. The omega bites his lower lip and watches as the arrow is released, flying straight towards the deer and landing with deadly accuracy on its neck. 

It hadn’t seen the arrow coming, only just felt it as blood began to sputter out. It screamed and writhed before falling down with a thump, seconds later it was dead. 

A wide smile spreads across Rick’s face. 

“We got it.” Daryl moves in quickly, pulls out the arrow from the animal and wipes off the blood with his shirt. “Looks like we ain’t eating squirrel tonight but some nice venison.” 

After everything that has happened in the last few days the group would eat good food tonight and fill their empty bellies. He could go and hug the alpha in thanks for helping him feed his family but knew better not to. Not when he smelled so good, when he had a wife. He had to be better than his instinct to roll over and present himself to the alpha. 

He shouldn’t feel this attracted towards Daryl, shouldn’t find his scent so pleasing, he had a wife and a son he almost thought he had lost. But he hadn’t, it hadn’t been so long ago they reunited and Lori wanted to fix things. He still cared deeply for her, ever since they started having troubles he’s been trying to fix things. While he might not been very good with his feelings, he tried but she... he was always saying the wrong things. It was impossible to say the right words and Lori wanted honesty. He was being honest; he just couldn’t find what was making him feel so detached from her and why she was angry. For all her talk of wanting him to express his real feelings she wasn’t telling him how she truly felt, she just talked about feelings. 

“Hey… aren’t you going to help me get this back to camp?” Daryl’s voice broke through his inner monologue. “Sorry.” He had gotten distracted, not something he can afford to do right now. A little more controlled than before he goes over to help Daryl. 

Daryl is on one side, holding the front legs of the animal while Rick is on the other, holding the back legs. “On three… two… one…!” Both men pull and begin their trek of dragging the animal back to camp. 

Making their way back to camp they heard a sound akin to a branch snapping. Walkers, possibly, they don’t know, they can’t see it either. They exchange looks; Rick drops the deer and slips his python out. Better be careful than not, though he would rather not shoot, it would only attract more walkers. He could always use the knife, but what if the threat is human or just another roaming animal? It was better to have the gun out and if it was just a walker he would put it back on its holster and knife the walker down. 

They approached silently, Rick on point and Daryl in the rear, one hand dragging the dead animal, the other holding his crossbow. Very slowly and carefully they advanced towards where the noise came from. It leaded them to a small clearing and soon enough they found the source of the noise.

Rick stared in horror at the scene that unfolded in front of his eyes. It had to be a lie; his eyes must be deceiving him, that couldn’t be Lori and certainly not Shane pressing her against a tree. Maybe they weren’t them and just a young surviving couple that they stumbled upon during a private time. 

But there was no mistaking it; through his bond he could feel Lori. Her pleasure as she wrapped her creamy legs around his waist, pulling him closer. Could feel her want and need for Shane, intoxicating her to the point she could drown, her lust getting the better of him. It sickened him that Shane; his best friend could achieve such passionate response from his mate. 

Not ever had Lori responded to his desires like, never this passionate, never this needy. 

“Shane… oh Shane…” She moaned sweetly, her whole body quivering in pleasure with each of Shane’s thrust. The alpha grunted, adjusting his position for a deeper angle. “We shouldn’t…” She says as her hand grips Shane’s back, fisting the fabric of his shirt. 

“Don’t matter… Don’t care he’s back… I want you and you been mine for a while now. Ever since I slid my cock inside of you… Lori you are mine… Please be mine.” Shane’s words are filled with emotion and it shocks Rick. Never in his life had Rick heard Shane being emotional and right now the alpha was doing that. Clinging to Lori’s hips, face pressed against the crock of her neck, thrusting into her with abandon. 

Lori’s toes curl in a familiar way, voice shaking. “Shane!” She pleads; face scrunching up and shouts her, orgasm rippling through her body. 

Rick feels it and god it makes his body tingle with lust and he lets out a little sight.

He can’t process what he just witnessed, what he felt through Lori but it wrecks him, his heart’s been shredded into pieces in seconds and something dark and ugly begins to swell in his chest. It didn’t come to him as a surprise, but it doesn’t change the pain he feels right now or helps him in any way. Watching them just confirmed his suspicion and everything makes sense now, the weird aura that surrounded Shane and Lori and how she felt more distant than in the past despite them making peace and wowing to themselves to work through their relationship. 

Maybe Lori stopped caring or maybe she cared but it was too late, the damage had been done and Shane was just there. Rick understands and forgives her, but he’ll never be able to forget this or be able to be with her properly. 

Then he feels it, their bond beginning to shatter. It starts to feel like something heavy is on his chest, pressing and pressing knocking out the breath from him. He could fight it, tug at the bond and strengthen it by sheer will and stop the breaking but he is unable to make it stop. It just happens, the weight increases, his breath shallows. 

Lori suddenly breaks away from Shane; she too can feel their bond braking and can probably tell he is near. It becomes obvious when she sees him. 

“Rick.” She calls out softly, but Rick doesn’t want to listen to her, wants nothing to do with her. “Shane… Rick’s here.” It stops Shane altogether and very slowly he turns his head around, his eyes widen and ears redden. “Shit, oh man.” He curses, pulling out from Lori. “Fuck.”

Meanwhile Daryl feels like a third wheel, stumbling onto something he should have not. He isn’t quite sure how to help but his instincts keep telling him to pull the omega away and distract him and they have never been wrong. And so he places a hand on top of Rick’s shoulder, turns him into his direction. “Let’s go man. It ain’t worth it.” It comes out roughly and the omega blinks as if waking from a dream. More like a horrible nightmare. It can’t be healthy finding out your mate cheated on you with your best friend, or that they kept at it still. At some point the truth was bound to come out, it was just terrible bad luck how it went down. 

“Help me out here.” He points at the dead dear, he couldn’t exactly drag it back to camp alone, it would take him hours unless Rick snapped out of it and helped him. “Rick… Rick!” He calls out, a little more firmly the second time and finally the omega is moving, placing his gun back into the holster and picking up the back end legs of the dead animal. 

Lori is quickly dressing herself, buttoning her shirt messily and pulling up her jeans, zipping them as she hurried towards Rick and Daryl. “Wait! We need to talk-“ Rick tilts his head and sneers. “Not now, later.” And like that he leaves her hanging dry. Shane is just finishing tucking himself when he speaks. “Leave him Lori; don’t think he wants to talk to anyone.” 

“Ya’ll better leave him alone until he feels like talking you stupid fuckers.” Daryl supplies for Rick who has chosen to remain quiet. Shane looks offended and Lori guilty. “I’m taking him and the deer back to camp. Ya can do whatever the fuck you want, but leave Rick alone.” 

With those final words, Daryl made a nodding gesture that was returned by Rick and both men went their way back to camp. 

No more words were spoken between Daryl and Rick. The omega was too preoccupied with his thoughts to properly participate in a conversation. The images of Lori and Shane together ran in his head like an old film. He couldn’t quite pull away from the shock of seeing it all, it had been too much. For a brief second he can feel Lori tug at their shattering bond, her guilty emotions wrapping around him like a cold blanket. He pulls away through their bond, alienates himself from her, pulls it until it rips, stand by strand like a worn out rope. At some pint she gives up, and lets it happen. They are over, this can’t be fixed. 

Arriving back to camp with the deer earned them some loud cheering and a hug or two. Everyone was happy to be eating something else that was no canned foods or squirrels. Glenn and T-Dog had arrived just some minutes before them, had found one emergency kit, a few bottles of water and a few cans of food. And in all they had been in luck bringing such a good haul. 

“Shane and Lori went out too look for you when-“ Dale starts to explain Lori’s and Shane’s absence from the group but Rick doesn’t let him finish. Instead he raises two fingers. “I know… I saw them… The truth hurts.” 

The cheering stops when the realization dawns on them. The entire group knew already of the affair and hadn’t said anything. Why would they? It wasn’t any of their business, regardless of whether he found out or not the outcome wouldn’t affect them the slightest. Only him, Lori, Shane and oh… Carl. 

His son stood there in front of him, confused unaware the silent understating shared by all the adults. Rick gathers him into his arms and hugs him tightly. “I love you Carl, you know that son?” he asks because he needs to reassure himself that Carl knows so that whatever happens between him and Lori would not affect their relationship of father and son. “Love you too dad.” The little boy murmurs, noting the shift between his parent’s bond; He’s felt the tugging and pulling but doesn’t know what it means. Rick won’t tell him, not until he and Lori have a talk. But not yet, not when his head is still reliving the images of seeing Shane fucking her. 

He needs to be alone, away from the rest of the group. Somewhere where he could empty his mind, think clearly and make his own decisions. Kissing Carl’s forehead he withdrew from the boy and walked away just as Shane and Lori arrived. Her lips were parted; a sound came from her mouth but Rick shock his head. “Not now, later. I need to be alone. I promise we’ll talk, just not right now.” She closed her mouth, nodded and walked away towards Carl, hugged him and asked him if he was hungry. 

Rick walks always and into the woods, just far away enough from the group but not too far. He can see the parked cars and the dim light from the firewood. The sound of people chattering carrying over as he settles, leaning against a tree and closes his eyes. He doesn’t need to worry too much about walkers, Dale’s on watch and the older omega could see him from where he was, so Rick could take it easy just for a bit. 

He thinks about Lori and their relationship. He remembers back when he was still very young, how he and Shane used to hang out a lot, heck even found himself attracted to the alpha, even though he was the kind of person that Rick wouldn’t find himself attracted to, but he just knew Shane so well and vice versa. Though it had been just a crush, Shane liked to fool around with people regardless of gender or nature, to him having sex was fun. Rick didn’t share that point of view, though he fooled around a bit, making out here and there and maybe some intimate touching going on but never had sex, it just didn’t happen. Nor was he interested while they were in high school. It was until hey were in college that Rick actually got interested in sex itself. 

So he started to be bolder about it and that’s when he meets Lori. The most beautiful beta girl he had lies on. She was just so pretty and they just clicked, shared the same interests and like him she was interested in having a real relationship, not just sex. He fell for her, it was so easy and he could see himself growing old with her with a lot of grandchildren surrounding them. 

A petty dream, he thinks now when the world has gone to shit and she cheated on him. 

Eight months later after meeting for the first time they mate and are getting married and Rick’s the happiest man on the earth. The very next month he starts working in the sheriff’s department and Lori announced she is pregnant. Eight or seven months roughly later on Carl is born, though Lori had some complications it still remains a happy occasion and Rick’s never been his happy, he’s got a wonderful mate and a tiny son to take care of. 

Ten years later their marriage is starting to have troubles. Rick can’t pinpoint where it exactly went wrong, but some point their lives consisted of just routines and he had stopped talking to Lori. He had a hard time communicating with her, he tried but was failing and Lori… she started getting angry and picking fights with him. That’s when he starts to notice his bond with Lori is weakening and he is having a hard time feeling her. He doesn’t say anything about it, too afraid of what it could mean so he tries to fix it by himself unaware that Lori is facing the same difficulty. It just happened, one moment they were good the next they were dull and boring. Rick didn’t know what Lori wanted and he didn’t know what he wanted. She talked about his feelings and he did tell her what he felt but it always came wrong. Just what the hell did she want him to tell her? 

Their arguing keeps getting worse, Carl has taken notice and it worries them both but neither one says anything about it. They just clamp up and keep arguing, this time around trying to do it when Carl is not present. There are talks about divorcing and make dissolving the bond, but it’s just talk because it ends up with Rick kissing Lori desperately and they end up having sex in the nearest surface and it’s great. But it’s not fixing their issues. 

They argue one morning and it’s really bad, that same day he gets shot, enters a coma and wakes up a few weeks later to a world gone mad, the dead are walking and there is no government, just survivors. He looks for his family, tries reaching through their bound but it’s hard when he can’t feel Lori properly. Somehow he manages to find them, and two days later he finds her tangled with his best friend.

Now Rick doesn’t know how he should feel about that. He had a suspicion that something had happened between Lori and Shane and he could hardly blame them. He had been gone and good as dead, the prospects of a comma patient surviving the apocalypse were pretty low and he had been considerably lucky; Though he didn’t feel so lucky right now. Whatever it was that happened between them, Rick hopes it was over and done with since he was here now. But it wasn’t, it had taken root.

Rick didn’t know if they were in love with each other but it was obvious they felt strongly about each other. He and Lori hadn’t been doing too well in the last couple months and it all seemed to spiral out of control, both could see the end of their relationship, they just denied it. There was no denying it now and Rick had to accept the truth no matter how much it hurt. 

“Fuck.” He mutters under his breath, it’s all too much for him but he needs to talk to Lori, put an official end to things and move on. 

“Yeah, fuck.” A voice startles him, turning around Rick sees it’s Daryl. “Sorry bout comin’ in and interrupting your private time but people worrying about it and dinner’s almost done.” The alpha drawls out casually. Rick swallows, an intense urge to say out loud the things he feeling right now threatens to overwhelm him. “Thanks.” 

“Sorry ‘bout your wife, ain’t that a bitch.” Daryl says in an attempt to make a conversation though he comes across as awkward. Rick frowns and doesn’t say anything. “Want one?” He takes out a smoke from his pocket and offers it to the omega. “No.” he replies, feeling slightly uncomfortable. Daryl’s scent is starting to seep through and once more Rick finds himself drawn to it. 

“Your loss, man.” Daryl mutters, cigarette trapped in his lips and lights it up with a lighter that he took out from his pocket. 

“Are you trying to... comfort me?” The thought it’s almost sweet but he can’t quite imagine the redneck being so… caring. “No.” He replies taking a drag. “Came for a smoke and make sure your pretty ass don’t get bitten by walkers.”

“Thank you.” It’s all he manages to say. 

A few uncomfortable seconds later Rick turns his head, glances at Daryl and is about to say something but nothing comes out of his mouth. It bubbles up in his throat, his feelings threatening to spill over. He really shouldn’t be telling the other man this but it also feels like he would listen and not judge him about it. Maybe it’s because he smells so nice or because spending time with the hunter searching for his missing dick brother and seeing him hunt has changed his perspective of him. Regardless he ends up spilling. 

“I thought- I… Lord knows before the world went to shit Lori and I had our problems. We were tryin’, and tryin’ so hard to make it work and failed but we kept at it; talks about the possibility of breaking our bond had just started, I didn’t want it and I’m sure she didn’t then. I wanted us to work but I knew it wasn’t… something was missin’, been missin’ for a while now… When I got here I noticed, something was different between Shane and her, didn’t dwell on it, they thought I was dead, so why bother if they did or didn’t, what mattered was that I was back now, alive and Lori is- …was my wife. They didn’t give a shit apparently, they still fucking… Why couldn’t she just come to me and say she wanted things to be over? Why prolong a dead relationship?”

When he is done talking he noticed his eyes are wet and there is a sniffle to his voice. He looks up and holds gazes with Daryl. The alpha might have not said anything and just stood there listening. God, it had been so long since he talked his heart out. He tried with Lori, but every time he did he was saying all the wrong things and she would just close up. He wasn’t talking about what she wanted him to talk about. What did she want him to talk about? He tried but she wasn’t listening and he had gotten tired of repeating himself.

“Ain’t that a bitch, huh…? She ain’t worth it man.” It takes a few seconds for Rick to register Daryl said something. “She been fucking that knotthead since I don’t know when. They were fucking when I first joined with merle, so maybe since the beginning.” He takes his last drag before discarding the cigarette, stomping on it with his boot to put out what little fire it had. 

“The truth hurts.” He utters a little sad. His and Lori’s relationship was over, it was just a matter of finalizing it and dammed him if it didn’t hurt him like hell. “Thanks for listening to me. I appreciate it.” And he did, so much. Something about the alpha made him feel at ease. “Better be back.”

By the time he was back the smell of cooked meat lingered in the air. Carol had finished cooking the deer thoroughly and was now beginning to serve it around to everyone. Rick made sure to sit as far away as possible from Lori and Shane. Both looked hurt and so did Carl who didn’t understand why his father was pulling away from his mother so drastically. 

They all sat around the fire, each holding a plate full of food and ate in silence mostly. From time to time someone would tell an anecdotage of the past to fill in the silence. It brought a sense of nostalgia and made the night more bearable. 

Once he was finished, Rick stood up, put his empty plate aside. “Dale, do you mind if I talk to Lori in the RV? We are going to need privacy.” The idea sounded stupid, but he would rather be away from the group’s preying eyes. Their shared tent was a bit too public; Dale’s RV was a far more private choice. It would do and Carl wouldn’t see or hear them argue.

Dale grabs Rick’s wrist to get his full attention. “Go ahead… and Rick, take as long as you need. I’m thinking about extending my watch anyways.” He smiles kindly, knowing what kind of talk those two are going to have; something that shouldn’t been seen and heard by others, especially Carl. He let’s go of Rick and turns to Andrea. “Still got that card deck? Maybe we can all play some cards and give those two some needed privacy.” 

~~

Rick slips into the RV, sits down, both hands on his face as he waits for Lori. It doesn’t take much waiting time. She’s here, closing and locking the door behind her. He looks up, takes a breath and stands up to eye-level with her. “I know about you and Shane, saw you actually… you thought I would never know?”

“No… you were gone and he as there and I… I thought it was over.” She explains, it’s been obvious she’s been thinking about what kind of answers to give. “If it was over, why were you still fucking out in the open, when I’m right here, alive and breathing. Tell me why.”

“I…” She didn’t have an answer for that; it wasn’t something she could put into words. “I thought you were dead, I couldn’t feel you, Shane…”

Rick’s voice was steady, each word drawn out with care. “I’m not asking how it happened and why it did. I know that, I get it. I was gone, dead for all you knew and our relationship was falling apart. Shane was there, kept you and Carl save and you… I get it Lori, I really do. What I’m asking is why didn’t stop when I got back, why are you still together?” He just wanted to know, needed to know regardless of how much it hurt. 

“I…” Lori sniffles, eyes watering. “I don’t know, Shane… he makes me feel alive, he kept us safe. Carl and I wouldn’t have made it without him. I don’t know if I love him, he is so different from you; maybe that’s why I like him so much… I really don’t know… What I know is that some time ago I stopped loving you like I used to. I don’t feel the same about you anymore, I want to… Dammit Rick! I tried, you tried… we both tried…”

“It’s not working, hasn’t been for a while.” Rick murmurs, wrapping both arms around Lori’s waist pulling her close to his chest one last time. Rubbing her back he tries to calm her tears and he doesn’t know if he can calm his own emotions. “Maybe we can try harder, start from cero and get to know each other again, fall in love…” 

“No.” He says firmly and pulls her away softly and cups her face. “You know we can’t. For months now I haven’t been able to feel our bond properly and right now it’s breaking. I know you can feel it tearing apart.” 

Her eyes are read with hot tears, lips pursed. Rick looks away. “Rick… I’m sorry.” She says.

“I’m sorry too.” He replies and lets her go. 

“Carl…” She begins. “He’ll understand, has to.” His voice breaks. “We’ll always be there for him, protect him; we are part of this group and we’ll care for each other Lori. Carl won’t ever get to miss us, it’s different now. We have to stick together as a group and his parents, nothing else.” 

It was over for good this time. There was no going back now, not when everything had changed. Whether Lori and Shane started a formal relationship was none of his business, they weren’t together. And their bond… it had begun the process of dissuading, it was still there but fading, had been fading for months. There was nothing left to do in order to save their relationship, it was damaged already and Rick didn’t feel like fixing what had been broken for a long time. 

He walks away from her, leaving her alone to think or whatever she wants to do. When he pulls the door open he sees Shane standing there, worried. Rick forces a smile. “She’s inside if you want to talk to her… We aren’t together anymore if you wanted to know…. And Shane… hurt her or MY son, I’ll kill you.” Seeing Shane after his little talk with Lori makes the anger that’s been building up make an appearance in the form of a threat. He had been keeping that anger and displeasure at bay, but he can’t anymore. “I mean it Shane, I really do.” 

The words linger on his back as he pushes his way past Shane. He doesn’t need to be there to know what’s going to happen. Lori is going to tell him about how she and Rick were over and Shane would kiss her and make her a hundredth promises. No, he didn’t want to think about them kissing and being happy.

Rick needed to distract himself; needed to do something and he felt like doing something incredibly stupid. There had to be something, anything… 

He sees Daryl in the distance and remembers the distinct scent of alpha that clung to the man everywhere he went. How good it was, how delicious and the way it seemed to wrap all around him. Then he thinks about Lori, they are not together anymore, he doesn’t have to feel bound to her to he does. Their bond still exists, broken but it’s there. 

Rick hesitates but remembers how Shane and Lori are together now while he is alone still thinking of her. She had offered to try things again but he refused. He couldn’t do it anymore, not with Shane thrown into the mix, one thing was to know and another was to see it with his own eyes. Forging her was easy, but forgetting about it… no, he couldn’t forget. 

Lori was having no troubling moving on, so why should he? What he was about to do could possibly be very stupid but Rick doesn’t care anymore. He’s alive, breathing and surviving, and also happens to find Daryl very irresistible. 

So he approaches the man, cheeks flushed red. Daryl’s tent is far from the rest and he is currently sitting on a log, inspecting his crossbow. “Hey.” He tries to sound seductive but it comes out awkward. God, he hasn’t done this in years and he didn’t really need to try to with Lori. He also needs to stop thinking about her. 

“You broke up with the bitch?” Daryl doesn’t look at him, too focused on his crossbow. 

“We are done; it’s over… so now I’m single.” He tries again and winks when the alpha looks up then back down again to his crossbow. “Yeah, she ain’t worth it man.” 

Okay, he needed to try harder. “So… uh… what are you doing?” At his question the hunter looks up again and raises an eyebrow. “Tightening the bolts.” He replies and once again goes back to his crossbow. 

“So, tighten your bolts often?” It’s the first thing that comes up in Rick’s head and it’s really bad and it’s not really a pick up line, just a really bad pun with double entendre that could be dismissed entirely.

Daryl stops what he is doing, looks up at Rick, notices the blush and blinks. “You want something?” 

Rick could back away now, take the chance and say it was nothing, that he was being curious. But Daryl smells so good and those dark blue eyes are staring at him, and he remembers those same eyes looking so focused when they were out hunting and wonders how they’ll look focusing just on him. 

“I do…” It was time to be direct. Rick places his hand on top of Daryl’s shoulder and squeezes, with his other hand he places it on his chest and murmurs in the sexiest tone he could possibly muster. 

“I want you to fuck me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Is this considered a cliffhanger? Anyways, next chapter…. Oops, that would be a spoiler. Just expect good things to happen. Also, this month and the next I’m going to be a bit busy with college stuff and holydays and if writing this chapter was any indication of how things are going to go I would say expect next chapter to be posted sometime in January. I know it’s a long time, but I’m slow and like to take my time writing. 
> 
> Hope you liked it!


End file.
